Erin's Experience

Howzit from South Africa. Over this whole trip, I have I encountered countless experiences and made memories to last a lifetime. Often I think people picture South Africa all as a barren desert with wildlife and huts everywhere, but that is only half true. In South Africa, there are cities, just like St. Louis, with stores and many fast food places of their own. Yes, there are parts of South Africa where people are living in huts with no heating or air conditioning, but there is so much more than that. South Africa is amazing and has many big cities such as Sandton City.


This weekend, I went to Sun City, a resort about 2 hours away from Joburg. Most of our time there was spent in Pilanesberg National Park where we drove around by ourselves and also went on a game drive. We were able to see 3 out of the Big 5: rhino, elephants, and buffalo. Unfortunately, I never was able to spot a lion or leopard, even though we spent over six hours in Pilanesberg. There is a water park similar to six flags called the “Valley of the Waves” where we spent the day relaxing and going on thrilling slides. I also traveled to an elephant encounter and was able to feed, pet, and walk with an elephant, trunk in hand. It’s very true that elephants are “friendly giants” and it was not even scary to me one bit when I stood side by side one; one even kissed me on the cheek. 

Throughout the whole time I have been with my host family, I have grown very close to them and their five dogs. I have experienced many cuisines such as biltong, koeksisters, rusks, springbok carpaccio, green creme soda, lamb, malva pudding, and pap. I also picked up some slang such as shame, braai, joll, robot, hectic, and somehow there is a difference between now, now now, and just now. Also, everyone can just understand when they are talking about chips like chips or chips as in fries. They thought it was funny I couldn’t figure out which kind of chips they were talking about. All in all this has been a wonderful experience and I am saddened by the fact there is only two days left. My time here in South Africa is amazing and I hope one day, I can return on my own.

Lucy's Experience

September 8-9 

Hallo from Johannesburg, South Africa! I can’t even put into words how much this trip has changed my perspective on culture. I came into this trip not knowing very much about the country, but from what I have seen it has made me take a step back and examine everything a bit more. I find some things in their country a little odd to me. One thing that I find confusing is how they drive on the other side of the road. It is sort of cool to look around at the roads and highways to see the ways that they travel. When I was around them, I noticed that they were speaking in German which is very unusual in South Africa. A lot of words and phrases are different here. For example, chips are called crisps, cookies are called biscuits, traffic lights are called robots, elevators are called lifts, bathrooms are called toilets, and a trunk of a car is called a boot. My host family also loves to use the words ‘shame’ and quite. They tend to just say the word ‘shame’ after they hear something horrible or sometimes they might use the phrase, “Oh what a shame!”. In almost every sentence, my host sister would say the word ‘quite’ and we both laugh and bond over that. I am adapting to their culture because I have even found myself saying ‘shame’ and ‘quite’ on my own!

This weekend I have done a lot of exploring! On Saturday my host family took me to the Lion and Safari Park. There, I got to see countless animals from hyenas to giraffes that were 100 feet away! After we went through all of the animal enclosures, we got the chance to pet baby lions. That was by far one of my favorite things that I have ever done! Just being able to be that close to them was really a chance of a lifetime. On Sunday we went to the Farmer’s market for brunch. It was very interesting to see all of the different kinds of food that they have. I wasn’t expecting South Africa to have as many ethnic food choices, but boy I was wrong! After a quick stop at the Farmer’s market, we headed over to the Crocodile Park. We got to see many crocodiles there, but I was very surprised that there weren’t that many in the water. I also got to witness the feeding of the crocodiles. The last time they fed them was the second week of May! My host sister and I also took on the challenge of going zip lining over the crocodile exhibit. I have to say that I was very scared at first, but looking back it wasn’t that big of a deal. We went to a show there and I got to hold a baby alligator, a small corn snake, and a huge anaconda snake!

I definitely went out of my comfort zone this weekend because snakes are something that i have always been very terrified of. St. Angela has a quote that states, “ You need not be anxious if you do your best” I think this quotes speaks great volumes for me on this trip. Although I may be anxious at times, St. Angela always brings me back.